The guidance includes a worksheet for device reviewers that incorporates the principal factors that influence benefit-risk determinations, such as the type, magnitude and duration of a risk or benefit, the probability that a patient will experience the risk, patient tolerance for risk, availability of alternative treatments, and the value the patient places on treatment.

The guidance:

• outlines the systematic approach FDA device reviewers take when making benefit-risk determinations during the premarket review process
• provides manufacturers a helpful tool that explains the various principal factors considered by the agency during the review of PMA applications, the regulatory pathway for high-risk medical devices, and de novo petitions, a regulatory pathway available for novel, low- to moderate-risk devices
• describes an approach that takes into account patients’ tolerance for risks and perspectives on benefits, as well as the novelty of the device.

As mentioned by Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), the guidance clarifies this process for industry, which will provide manufacturers with greater predictability, consistency and transparency in FDA decision-making while allowing manufacturers and the FDA to use a common framework for benefit-risk determinations.

For more information please read the new Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff entitled “Factors to Consider When Making Benefit-Risk Determinations in Medical Device Premarket Approval and De Novo Classifications”

Source:

FDA/News Release

FDA/Guidance